College Headhunters, Accustomed to Secrecy, Find Themselves Under Scrutiny

Michael Schwarz/Special to Tallahassee Democrat

R. William Funk resigned as a search consultant at Florida State U. after an unusual no-confidence vote by the Faculty Senate. “There is an intrinsic suspicion on the part of some constituents” of search firms, he said.

R. William Funk resigned as a search consultant at Florida State U. after an unusual no-confidence vote by the Faculty Senate. “There is an intrinsic suspicion on the part of some constituents” of search firms, he said.

By Jack Stripling

Good college headhunters are mostly invisible.

These highly paid consultants, who have significant influence
over how academic-leadership searches play out, pride themselves on
being behind-the-scenes facilitators, connecting governing boards
and search committees with dream candidates. But times have
changed. The often politicized and sometimes rancorous process of
selecting college leaders has come under greater public scrutiny,
and the search-firm industry now finds itself on the